Photo Credit: Alexis Fragapane

Oswego (10-8-1) opened up the second half of the 2019-2020 season with a sweep over the Robert Morris University Colonials (18-8-1) this past weekend in Pittsburgh, PA. On Friday night the Lakers beat RMU 5-4 and then concluded the weekend with a 6-4 win on Saturday afternoon.

In game 1 Braydon Deming opened the scoring 1:30 into the 2nd period to give Oswego the lead. Andrew Corning extended the Laker lead to 2-0 with his first career ACHA goal just 4 minutes later. RMU was able to tie the game with 2 quick goals with just over 5 minutes left in the middle period. Again, Braydon Deming would give Oswego the lead just 11 seconds into the 3rd period with his 10th tally of the season. CJ Walsh would put home a beautiful feed from Andrew Corning with 14 minutes to play to put the Lakers back up by 2. But once again, the lead would not stick.

Robert Morris would answer with 2 powerplay goals on a 5-minute major man advantage to tie the game. Oswego’s Mike Lemiuex was tagged with the 5 minute major penalty and a game misconduct after boarding RMU’s Braeden Harbison with 9:16 to play. Although Zac Case was originally given the major penalty the game misconduct was rightfully changed to Mike Lemiuex following the game. Andrew Cardi would break the tie with 4 minutes to play in the game with a powerplay goal of his own to put the Lakers up 5-4. Cardi’s eventual game winner was his 5th of the season. The sophomore from Rockville Centre, NY was on his way to a multi-goal weekend - 1 of the 3 Lakers to do so. 

Dan Perepezko stopped 47 of 51 Colonial shots he faced in the 5-4 win.

On Saturday afternoon Braydon Deming would again open the scoring for Oswego. The freshman forward ripped a slap shot past Parker Rutherford’s left shoulder for his 11th of the season and 3rd goal of the weekend. Andrew Cardi and Trevor Jubran would also score in the first period to put Oswego ahead 3-0. RMU would answer to cut the Oswego lead to 3-1 with just under 2 minutes to play in the first period.

Chris Wands tucked home his first of the season on a breakaway to give the Lakers their 3 goal lead back. However, RMU would answer with 2 strikes before the end of the second to cut Oswego’s lead to 4-3. Trevor Jubran scored his 2nd of the game to put the Lakers back up by 2 with 12 minutes left in the game. Tanner Orr would get the Colonials within 1 with 3 minutes to play but Braydon Deming was awarded another goal as a penalty was committed as he was about to shoot the puck into RMU’s vacated net. This resulted in an automatic goal given to Oswego and would cap off the weekend sweep. Ryan Schirano had 41 saves for Oswego in the 6-4 win. 

This was the first time in 4 tries that Oswego has beaten an opponent in back to back games in a weekend series this season. Even more impressive - the Lakers never once trailed against RMU in either of the 2 games. The Colonials were ranked as high as #21 in the ACHA this season (ACHA Ranking #5 | November 1st, 2019) back in November. RMU was ranked 33rd in the most recent ACHA polls coming into the weekend against Oswego State. 

The Lakers look to keep their winning ways as they head to Buffalo this upcoming weekend for 2 huge NECHL conference games. On Friday evening the Lakers take on the 2nd place Canisius Golden Griffins (11-7-3, 5-2-1) on the road before squaring off the University at Buffalo (10-13-0, 5-3-0) on Saturday. The Lakers will look to revenge the overtime loss they suffered to Buffalo in the final game before the holiday break. Barring any technical difficulties Friday and Saturday’s game will both be streamed live on Oswego’s YouTube Channel. For updates on the games you can also follow along on the Oswego State Lakers Twitter feed.